Is Everton’s Kevin Mirallas getting a star’s benefit of the doubt? For all the quality that the Belgian international brings to Goodison, that’s unlikely, but Brendan Rodgers hit on an interesting point after Saturday’s derby. Implicitly asking whether reputation has any role in a referee’s decision, Rodger’s questioned whether yesterday’s red-worthy challenge from the Everton winger would have been received with less leniency had Luis Suárez committed the foul.

It wasn’t just a random name. Mirallas’s boot high from behind caught the Uruguayan star behind the right knee. As Rodgers put it, “You don’t want to see people getting sent off but if they should be than that’s what should happen.” The only grey area about Mirallas’s challenge was in the eyes of veteran official Phil Dowd, who remarkably kept red in his pocket.

“I thought Mirallas should have been sent off,” Rodgers said, asked about the challenge. “It would’ve been interesting if Luis made the challenge. I have seen Kevin for a few years and he looks a real honest player but if you look at it in every way, real time and slow motion, it is a bad challenge.”

Whether Suárez would have been sent off is academic, but Rodgers’ missive does ask us to consider whether reputation has any role in these judgments. Perhaps, more generally, is there a bias when assessing severity, one which would have seen Suárez dismissed?

“He caught him on the back of his knee and that can end your career,” Rodgers explained. “It was awful jumping in like that and it took Luis 10 or 15 minutes to try to run it off …”

Does Sunderland red card machine Lee Cattermole get away with that challenge? Or Newcastle’s Cheick Tioté? Would they have gotten the same benefit of the doubt that befell Mirallas, a player who has only committed 11 fouls (and drawn three cards) all year?

Dowd’s decision may not be the best place to start this debate. It was so egregiously wrong that it’s hard to use the call as an example of where a line should be drawn. Mirallas’s infraction was so bad, even a player of Javier Zanetti’s reputation should have been dismissed.

But abstract it, think about it, and Rodgers’ more general point might be worth some discussion. Do certain players get the benefit of the doubt on potential red card offenses? And if so, what types of players are those? Superstars? Players reputed for clean play? Or a combination of both?

After seeing the leniency shown Wayne Rooney on Sunday, Cardiff City might content stars get special treatment. Rodgers, on the other hand, wonders whether his star would have received sure a compassionate ruling.